Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Seriously, what are you gonna do to me?

THULE AIR BASE, Greenland, at nearly 700 miles above the Arctic Circle, is the type of assignment known in the Air Force as "remote." One afternoon the crew of a C-141 Starlifter impatiently awaited the arrival of a sewage-servicing truck, which had already delayed their takeoff by 20 minutes. At last the truck appeared, driven by a nonchalant airman who set about removing the plane's sewage in an unhurried fashion. The aircraft's commander, a full colonel, began furiously berating him for his lackadaisical attitude. Interrupting the commander in midspeech, the airman heaved a sigh and said, "So what are you going to do to me, Colonel? I've got no stripes, I'm stuck in Greenland and I'm pumping sewage from your plane. How could you possibly make it worse?" The colonel shrugged his shoulders, said, "I dunno," and got back on the plane.